Designer Interview

---

Interview with Cristina Orozco Cuevas at Tuesday 8th of October 2013

FS: Could you please tell us more about your art and design background? What made you become an artist/designer? Have you always wanted to be a designer?
COC: I always wanted to be a designer since I was 10 years old. But I dis not know what kind of designer, maybe graphic or fashion. At age of 14 came an obsession with bags and application design, that was when I decided to study definetely something about fashion. I started to study the textile design career in Universidad Iberoamericana with the idea of fashion and textile background as something necessary. Nevertheless on my way to became I fell in love with pattern design and weaves. That was when I decided I wanted to specialize on jacqaurd or printing design. I been doing jacquard designs since 2007.

FS: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
COC: My Studio specializes in textile design including development of collections, patterns, projects advice for decoration. Also I made graphic design and web design concept for corporate or branding sometimes. But the main service is textile specialized design for companies and mills.

FS: What is "design" for you?
COC: Design is about looking around, mix, simplifly and make up a need.

FS: What kinds of works do you like designing most?
COC: Special conceptual projects, because it is very challenging to make this kind of jobs, and are very rare on the market.

FS: What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?
COC: The Bouroullec brothers work with panels and decoration.

FS: What was the first thing you designed for a company?
COC: A collection of textiles with the CASINO, as a main object. Those fabrics are still on the market.

FS: What is your favorite material / platform / technology?
COC: strange tecnhologic material propperties

FS: When do you feel the most creative?
COC: When something is not working and after trying and trying you simply got it.

FS: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
COC: Aesthetic, function, innovation and avant garde- all in one

FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
COC: hapiness, frustration, challenge, testing, exploring and experimenting

FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
COC: fullfillmes, satisfaction, greatful, stimulation

FS: What makes a design successful?
COC: innovation, rarity and difference

FS: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?
COC: aesthetic, quality, function

FS: From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?
COC: to bring the best with all the elements you can reach

FS: How do you think the "design field" is evolving? What is the future of design?
COC: It is evolving in sustainability, recycling and renewing

FS: When was your last exhibition and where was it? And when do you want to hold your next exhibition?
COC: In Madrid on the Third Design Iberoamerican Biennal last year. Now I will exhibit on Popular Museum of Art in Mexico City a work I made with a craftsman.

FS: Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?
COC: looking always for details on streets, journneys, other disciplines like architecture, art, industrial and graphic design. Fedding from alll image and form stimulus.

FS: How would you describe your design style? What made you explore more this style and what are the main characteristics of your style? What's your approach to design?
COC: with a personal seal of difference. When I designed fabrics I never see fabrics. That is always my main objective because if you see fabrics you take ideas from the same roots.
My approach to design is to make exponential the work of a designer in products. Approach the textile as a basis not a complement on others works.

FS: Where do you live? Do you feel the cultural heritage of your country affects your designs? What are the pros and cons during designing as a result of living in your country?
COC: I live in Mexico City/ Estado de Mexico. I do not think my culture affects my designs. Pros: exploring and experimenting Cons: few support and knowledge of textile work in general.

FS: How do you work with companies?
COC: I sell them my ideas, but I work very deep with the people on the mills. there is one mill where I work everyday to know the process and to intervene in the whol process untill commercialization.
With other companies I offer the textiles I ahve done to put them into interior design projects.

FS: What are your suggestions to companies for working with a designer? How can companies select a good designer?
COC: Trust in design a s basic tool to separate from the competition. Skills, work and always people who gives more than what they ask you to do.

FS: Can you talk a little about your design process?
COC: My design process starts first with doing research in different fields as architecture, nature, trips, objetcs, mobies, stores...everything. I search for cool things or trends to somehow start to think on a new textile collection. Then I start the brainstorms ideas on my head, then on paper. When I have a real synthesis of those ideas I start to sketch and think about fabirc results, patterns, mixes, colors, etc.
I am convinced that any process of design the better research you do, the better result you will get.

FS: What are 5 of your favorite design items at home?
COC: chairs, coffee machine, lamps, floor and hanger.

FS: Can you describe a day in your life?
COC: It starts with a breakfast that will give me the basic energy to work. Then I come to the studio, read my e-mails, search for videos or interesting ideas while I drink my daily coffee. then I start to work on reviews, research, designs I haven´t finished. If there is something vintage or retro to look on the web I see it. I review and check the content that it is going to be published on my social media. Sometimes I have to visit clients or talk with them. Again I start to look for interesting things on web, blogs, etc. After having my meal I review again social media content, e-mails and plans to do in order to promote and find new things of my design. After a normally day at the office I go home, workout, reviw some pendant work to do for other clients. I check e-mails, have a wonderful and healthy dinner and go to sleep. I am a workoholic.

FS: Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?
COC: never give -up, work hard, dont get desperate and fight for your design to be published or done, always take risks and reinvent yourself. Encourage yourself all day long in order to success, pretty hard don´t? But it is better in all aspects.

FS: From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?
COC: Positive: experimenting, creating, learning, growing up.
Negative: clients changing everything at last minute, creative people destroying your work, selling intangible ideas and people always rating less your work.

FS: What is your "golden rule" in design?
COC: Do the best research.

FS: What skills are most important for a designer?
COC: unique style, talent, project management, creative thinking, risky, good eye for detail, communication, leadership, multi-taskers, knowledge of different mediums or software and business skills. The bst one is to know which capabilities you have and which you don´t.

FS: Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?
COC: computer, wacom, paper, pen and pencil, colors, special sofware, a comfortable chair. Sources of inspiration: blos, photography, places, countries, engineer structures, fashion clothing, etc.

FS: Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?
COC: Yes, but I don´t mind cause it is my greatest passion and my addiction.

FS: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?
COC: It depends, sometimes it can happen in 15 minutes sometimes it can last weeks. It depends on the project, the goal, the difficulty and most of all the challenge.

FS: What is the most frequently asked question to you, as a designer?
COC: Where do I get my inspiration of?

FS: What was your most important job experience?
COC: Co-working with other designers

FS: Who are some of your clients?
COC: NUA, ROCOCO, DIN Interiorismo, House of Mann, DUES, Grupo Starkem, THS, Blancos Covadonga.

FS: What type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?
COC: The type of rare and different, ones that involve the hardest challenges and the best feedbacks.

FS: What are your future plans? What is next for you?
COC: Stregthen my brand as a designer and work interntionally with other companies in Europe, UK, USA, Asia and Latin america. Present my own collections of fabrics, products and commercialize them.

FS: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
COC: I develop designs by myself.

FS: Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?
COC: I am working with yarn suppliers in Spain to make luminiscense special 3D fabrics for decoration and own projects. I am also planning to bring a home product with recylced yarn that will have something to do with shells. I am working too on my new own line of textiles to sell directly to the public.

FS: How can people contact you?
COC: They can write me to these listy of e-mails. Depending on what the are interested in:
Press & Media: prensa@cristinaorozcocuevas.com
Sails & Alliances : ventas@cristinaorozcocuevas.com
Information & Projects: info@cristinaorozcocuevas.com

They can also enter to my diverse social media to get in touch with me through my website: http://www.cristinaorozcocuevas.com

FS: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?
COC: Support and do not reject textile design!

FS: Thank you for providing us with this opportunity to interview you.

A' Design Award & Competition grants rights to press members and bloggers to use parts of this interview. This interview is provided as it is; DesignPRWire and A' Design Award & Competition cannot be held responsible for the answers given by participating designers.